WHITEPAPER

FEDERATE OR DIE OUT

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNICATION A whitepaper by Robert Pope, Outsourcery’s Head of Business Development FEDERATE OR DIE OUT When it comes to the evolution of communication, is your business embracing technology or still nursing a recession hangover? The evolution of man has become the evolution of communication and businesses can’t afford NOT to evolve. Microsoft Lync is, for those of you not familiar with it, essentially business-grade Skype, aptly soon to be renamed Skype for Business (and if you’ve not heard of Skype, you may as well stop reading now). Lync brings with it many commercial advantages which are discussed at great length in a number of whitepapers, tech journals and IT press. Well-documented benefits include cost saving, improved productivity and inter-company collaboration, however one benefit that is often overlooked is federation. Federation is the functionality within Microsoft Lync to ‘see’ into another organisation (or indeed, an individual via Skype) and to leverage all the advantages of Lync’s core features such as ‘presence’ and ‘instant messaging’, whilst moving higher up in the communication value chain, with voice, video and desktop sharing. The federation feature that comes with Lync establishes trusted and encrypted relationships between organisations, enabling greater collaboration, or in simple terms making it easier to see that the person you need to speak to is available to instant message, receive a call or collaborate with through desktop sharing.

THE EVOLUTION OF ‘COMMS’ Communication methods have changed over the centuries, from smoke signals to telegraphs, radio to fax, and more recently e-mail and social media. Some readers may still remember getting a telephone at home or a fax machine at work, whereas others may not even remember a time when Facebook didn’t exist. Nowadays, modern communication the world over relies on technology and the bottom line is that today, without an e-mail address, you can easily become disenfranchised – cut off from communicating with the world around you, both socially and in business. DID YOU KNOW? It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners

It took terrestrial TV 13 years to reach 50 million users It took the internet four years to reach 50 million people

But it took Facebook less than nine months to add 100 million users. And if you’re not on it you’re not in it. With over 60% of enterprises of 500 seats and above using or adopting Microsoft Lync, federation will become more and more important on both sides of the commercial chain. FEDERATE TO STAY IN THE GAME If, as a supplier, you aren’t part of the ever-growing business network of Lync users, then you’ll likely become the ‘great aunt’ to your customers, – sometimes thought about, but

rarely visited, simply due to the fact that there isn’t an easy and effective way for people to keep in touch. Even with a phone number and an e-mail address (and likely a fax machine lurking in your office somewhere) digital communications are evolving, with social tools and unified communications fast-becoming the contact method of choice. More onerous methods are slipping away into the days of communications past. For those readers using Lync already, they will identify with the notion that reading a phone number from an address book or a screen and punching the digits in to a dial pad now feels clunky and old-fashioned – it has become that bit less convenient than just double clicking the Lync icon, so those are the calls that happen first. Enhanced features like calling someone by clicking on the ‘from’ address in an e-mail or clicking on an invitee’s name in a calendar entry mean Microsoft Lync makes communicating with customers, partners, suppliers, colleagues and other business stakeholders a seamless experience. Businesses using Lync, and even better businesses that federate with their clients, will reap the rewards not just from a communications perspective but tangibly on the bottom line. Revenues will increase, as people in business are short of time and will choose the quickest and most efficient way of getting in touch whether that be to purchase a service, request a consultation or close a deal. And like with Facebook in the social space, when it comes to Lync you do need to be on it to be in it. DEATH OF A PHONE NUMBER Microsoft Lync is increasingly becoming the Unified Communications solution of choice, with increasing global adoption: a solution which once deployed turns a device (think mobiles, tablets and laptops) into a handset or ‘phone’ in the most traditional sense of the word. A contact becomes a person, no longer an impossible-to-remember sequence of digits. We could ultimately see the death of the phone number. The ability to select a name and instantly communicate and collaborate effectively is the ‘comms’ method of the future. An infographic published by Microsoft in 2014 shows the following key statistics: Communication methods have changed over the centuries, from smoke signals to telegraphs, from radio to fax, and more recently including e-mail and social media. Some readers may remember getting a telephone at home, or the first fax machine at work, whereas others may not even remember a time when Facebook didn’t exist. Nowadays, modern communication the world over relies on technology and the bottom line is that today, without an e-mail address, you can easily become disenfranchised – cut off from communication. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. It took terrestrial TV 13 years to reach 50 million users. It took the internet four years to reach 50 million people.

If, as a supplier, you aren’t part of the ever-growing business network of Lync users, then you’ll likely become the ‘great aunt’ to your customers, – sometimes thought about, but not often visited – a distant entity simply due to the fact that there isn’t an easy and effective way for people to keep in touch. Even with a phone number and an e-mail address (and likely a fax machine still lurking in your office somewhere) digital communications are evolving, with social tools and unified communications fast-becoming the contact method of choice. More onerous methods are slipping away into the days of communications past. For those readers using Lync already, they will identify with the notion that reading a phone number from an address book or a screen and punching the digits in to a dial pad now feels clunky and old-fashioned – it has become that bit less convenient than just double clicking the Lync icon, so those are the calls that happen first. Enhanced features like calling someone by clicking on the ‘from’ address in an e-mail or clicking on an invitee’s name in a calendar entry mean Microsoft Lync makes communicating with customers, partners, suppliers, colleagues and other business stakeholders a seamless experience. Businesses using Lync, and even better businesses that federate with their clients, will reap the rewards not just from a communications perspective but tangibly on the bottom line. Revenues will increase, as people in business are short of time and will choose the quickest and most efficient way of getting in touch whether that be to purchase a service, request a consultation or close a deal. And like with Facebook in the social space, when it comes to Lync you do need to be on it to be in it. Microsoft Lync is increasingly becoming the Unified Communications solution of choice, with increasing global adoption: a solution which once deployed turns a device (think mobiles, tablets and laptops) into a handset or ‘phone’ in the most traditional sense of the word. A contact becomes a person, no longer an impossible-to-remember sequence of digits. We could ultimately see the death of the phone number. The ability to select a name and instantly communicate and collaborate effectively is the comms method of the future. An infographic published by Microsoft in 2014 shows the following key statistics: Communication methods have changed over the centuries, from smoke signals to telegraphs, from radio to fax, and more recently including e-mail and social media. Some readers may remember getting a telephone at home, or the first fax machine at work, whereas others may not even remember a time when Facebook didn’t exist. Nowadays, modern communication the world over relies on technology and the bottom line is that today, without an e-mail address, you can easily become disenfranchised – cut off from communication. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. It took terrestrial TV 13 years to reach 50 million users.

If, as a supplier, you aren’t part of the ever-growing business network of Lync users, then you’ll likely become the ‘great aunt’ to your customers, – sometimes thought about, but not often visited – a distant entity simply due to the fact that there isn’t an easy and effective way for people to keep in touch. Even with a phone number and an e-mail address (and likely a fax machine still lurking in your office somewhere) digital communications are evolving, with social tools and unified communications fast-becoming the contact method of choice. More onerous methods are slipping away into the days of communications past. For those readers using Lync already, they will identify with the notion that reading a phone number from an address book or a screen and punching the digits in to a dial pad now feels clunky and old-fashioned – it has become that bit less convenient than just double clicking the Lync icon, so those are the calls that happen first. Enhanced features like calling someone by clicking on the ‘from’ address in an e-mail or clicking on an invitee’s name in a calendar entry mean Microsoft Lync makes communicating with customers, partners, suppliers, colleagues and other business stakeholders a seamless experience. Businesses using Lync, and even better businesses that federate with their clients, will reap the rewards not just from a communications perspective but tangibly on the bottom line. Revenues will increase, as people in business are short of time and will choose the quickest and most efficient way of getting in touch whether that be to purchase a service, request a consultation or close a deal. And like with Facebook in the social space, when it comes to Lync you do need to be on it to be in it. Microsoft Lync is increasingly becoming the Unified Communications solution of choice, with increasing global adoption: a solution which once deployed turns a device (think mobiles, tablets and laptops) into a handset or ‘phone’ in the most traditional sense of the word. A contact becomes a person, no longer an impossible-to-remember sequence of digits. We could ultimately see the death of the phone number. The ability to select a name and instantly communicate and collaborate effectively is the comms method of the future. An infographic published by Microsoft in 2014 shows the following key statistics: Communication methods have changed over the centuries, from smoke signals to telegraphs, from radio to fax, and more recently including e-mail and social media. Some readers may remember getting a telephone at home, or the first fax machine at work, whereas others may not even remember a time when Facebook didn’t exist. Nowadays, modern communication the world over relies on technology and the bottom line is that today, without an e-mail address, you can easily become disenfranchised – cut off from communication. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. It took terrestrial TV 13 years to reach 50 million users.

At Outsourcery, we speak more times to our suppliers in a single day over Lync, that we would in a month to suppliers we need to contact by phone. And in our offices in London, Manchester and Leicester you won’t find a single ‘phone’. You will however see lots of wireless headsets, digital devices and conferencing facilities – all fully mobile and utilising the latest in cloud technology. What’s more, from a service perspective, we can provide a better level of support to our customers and partners using Microsoft Lync – for them and for us it’s a straightforward connect, communicate and collaborate. One of the things that makes us ‘the cloud experts’ is the fact that all our employees live, sleep and breath the technology that we sell. WHEN THE GREEN GLOWS Microsoft Lync is ‘the new e-mail’ and much, much more. The ease of communication and the ability to leverage instant opportunities for collaboration, triggered often by the availability of the recipient – when the green glows, you’re good to go. But federation is key. Federate or die out. ABOUT OUTSOURCERY Outsourcery is a world-leading UK-based Cloud Services Provider (CSP), offering one of the broadest offerings of cloud-based services built on Microsoft technology and best-of-breed HP hardware, for businesses of all sizes. The company aims to remove the need for organisations to own and manage on-premises IT, unified communications and conferencing applications and infrastructure. End-customers range from start-ups to FTSE-100 businesses and Outsourcery serves an extensive partner base of over 500 IT and ‘telco’ providers, which include Virgin Media Business and Vodafone. Outsourcery offers hosted software applications (software-as-a-service), cloud infrastructure (infrastructure-as-a-service) and next generation unified communications and collaboration solutions, as well as connectivity and professional services to tailor and fully integrate solutions to meet the needs of customers, partners and the UK public sector alike. The product suite includes hosted Lync, Exchange, Dynamics CRM and Office365, along with its own enterprise-grade, Ofcom regulated O-Cloud server platform. Outsourcery's O-Cloud platform has been certified to run government classified information at OFFICIAL and OFFICAL SENSITIVE over the internet. This gives Outsourcery CESG Pan Government Accreditation (PGA) (formerly IL2) to meet data

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sovereignty and security specifications for the public sector. Outsourcery, working with Dell and Microsoft, is also in the process of designing and deploying a high security cloud platform, accredited to carry OFFICIAL and OFFICAL SENSITIVE classified documentation, with PGA and Public Services Network (PSN) Protect (formerly IL3) connectivity, also for UK government. Outsourcery was the first company outside of the US to be named Microsoft’s worldwide ‘Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year’ and also the UK’s first certified carbon neutral CSP. The business was named HP’s Most Innovative Service Award 2013 and the UK Cloud Awards’ Collaboration Product of the Year 2014. Outsourcery is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner with a total of eight competencies of which three are gold and five are silver. The business is also a HP Cloud Agile Partner, a Microsoft CityNext Partner and a Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner as well as a founder member of the UK Cloud Industry Forum. Outsourcery is also a corporate member of MSDUK and holds ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards. Outsourcery has over 100 employees, with offices in Manchester, London and Leicester. GET IN TOUCH At Outsourcery, we are always ready to talk cloud. To understand more about federation, or to discuss what unified communications could do for your business, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Robert Pope, Head of Business Development, Outsourcery robert.pope@outsourcery.co.uk 0843 366 6060

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